"The True Issue or ‘That’s What’s the Matter'"

This political cartoon shows United States President Lincoln and Confederacy President Jefferson Davis fighting a tug-of-war over the map of the United States. Lincoln proclaims, “No peace without Abolition." While Davis protests, “No peace without Separation!” General George McClellan is preventing them from completely tearing the map by holding the two other men as he asserts, “The Union must be preserved at all hazards!” Notice that Davis is dressed in shabby clothes, a comment on the degraded economic situation of the South.¹

Currier & Ives, the famous lithographers in New York, created it in 1864, when it also appeared in Harper’s Weekly. Political images were not their focus, and of the fifty or so they created, almost all of them were printed during election years.² They typically portrayed the righteousness of the Northern cause, rather than sensationalizing the “enemy” in the South. This image is unusual for them (and Harper’s Weekly), in that it is pro-Democrat and favorable toward McClellan. Earlier Currier & Ives images of McClellan had been critical of his failures as a military leader.³ By 1864, there was some sentiment that the war had been dragging on without results, and it is reflected in this cartoon. It was an election year, and McClellan was a presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, running against President Lincoln’s bid for re-election with the Republican Party. 

The Democratic platform statement says, “after four years of failure to restore the Union by the experiment of war … that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities” and “the object of the Democratic party is to preserve the Federal Union”.⁴ The statement on the Republican side says, “we are in favor… of an amendment… as shall terminate and forever prohibit the existence of Slavery” and that they are “determined not to compromise with Rebels, or to offer them any terms of peace.”⁵  The text of the cartoon draws directly from the stated platforms of the two parties.

Currier & Ives and Harper’s Weekly were reflecting a growing concern that Lincoln was loosing sight of his oath of office, which he re-stated it in his inaugural address of March 4, 1861 saying it was his solemn oath to “preserve, protect, and defend” the constitution of the United States.⁶ It was beginning to appear as if Lincoln was digging in his heels against the South, rather than preserving the Federal Union.

Notes

1.          Currier & Ives. "The True Issue or "That's What's the Matter"" Library of Congress Home. Harper's Weekly, 1864. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003656580/.

2.           Glenn C. Altschuler and Stuart M. Blumin. Rude Republic: Americans and Their Politics in the Nineteenth Century. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2000. Print. Page 135.

3.         "Currier and Ives: The History of the Firm." CURRIER & IVES. Currier and Ives Foundation. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. http://www.currierandives.com/.

4.         Democratic Party Platforms: "Democratic Party Platform of 1864," August 29, 1864. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29578.

5.         Republican Party Platforms: "Republican Party Platform of 1864," June 7, 1864. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. Web.15 Feb. 2012. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29621.

6.         Abraham Lincoln: "Inaugural Address," March 4, 1861. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=25818.